Thursday, September 08, 2016

For 25 years, the country has seen falling fertility rates coincide with widespread aging, a worrisome trend that has now reached a critical mass known as a "demographic time bomb."

Japanese women are having so few children that the country's population could drop by half in 24 years.

The data reveal that roughly a million babies were born in Japan in 2015. Meanwhile, 1.3 million people died. That's a net loss of almost 300,000 humans.

New data released by UBS makes the trend especially concerning. Not only is Japan's population dwindling, but other countries might be only a couple decades behind if they can't keep their fertility rates in step with aging populations.